My Four-legged Personal Trainer

Her Highness has decided she *likes* going for runs and meets me at the gate with a hopeful look every time I drive in.  Or maybe she just thinks she's going to get some oats.

I can't really chalk it up to the oats, because I just started her on them.  So it is definitely that she likes running.  I now have to lock the gate when I go into her pen, because she thinks once I'm there it's time to go.  The crazy thing is that we've only been out running three times.

Late this morning, I went over, fed her, scooped her poop and told her I'd be back for our run.  She looked at me like I was betraying her.  It didn't matter that I spent an hour in her pen, cleaning up after her and loving on her - I was leaving without taking her for her run.  You think a dog can make you feel guilty?  Try those big beautiful eyes.

Not a current picture, but I got the same cranky look.

She looked at me like I was lying to her when I said I'd be back later to take her running.  I didn't want to take her right after she'd finished eating, so I went home and took a nap.

When I got back, I grabbed her halter and curry comb.  I threw her halter on the ground in front of her so I could work on her nasty shedding with the curry and that little brat tried to halter herself.  She pushed and pushed the halter around with her nose until she had her nose in the nose band.  She wouldn't leave it alone until I haltered her.  Once I haltered her, she stood ground tied while I finished currying her.  It's like she didn't believe that we were actually going running until she was "dressed".  I have curried her recently without her halter on and then left, so maybe in her little mind, the halter was sealing the deal that we really were going to leave the pen.

She's so good when we go out on our "runs", which currently are intervals that are more walking than running.  She stays right at my shoulder and has quit swerving into me and lets me set the pace.  I was in a flat-out run on a couple of our intervals and she just trotted along happily, later in our program, when I was tired, I slowed down to a job and she just followed suit.

I'm trying to figure out how to get pics of us running together, but it's all I can do to breathe when we're running - I'm not sure I can breathe, run, AND take a picture.

We are having a good time, though, and I have a much harder time bailing on her, so this running thing might actually take this time around.